


Sirena

by Nitonami



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, Merman!Percy, Mortal AU, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-01-02 12:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitonami/pseuds/Nitonami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico never liked the ocean. He was wary of it, respecting the fact that it could end up killing him, and he made sure to stay far, far away from it. Of course, when you lived in a small town that was nearly surrounded by water that was difficult.<br/>Nico remembered the first time he entered the water. It was his sixteenth birthday, and his friends thought a bonfire on the beach was just what he’d need. Bianca had even come, despite making it obvious earlier that she’d wanted to go to the mall with her friend Zoe. They had ended the night by convincing Nico to take a swim.<br/>That was, coincidentally, the first time he met Perseus Jackson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Necklace

Nico never liked the ocean. He was wary of it, respecting the fact that it could end up killing him, and he made sure to stay far, far away from it. Of course, when you lived in a small town that was nearly surrounded by water that was difficult.

He knew how to swim; he had grown up in Venice, Italy, taken to America when his mother wanted a new start with him and his sister. Everyone in Venice knew how to swim. Nico didn’t mind swimming either; as long as he could see the bottom of the pool below him. When the few kids he hung out with at school asked him if he wanted to go to the beach after school he would try his best to avoid it; sometimes his sister almost pushed him into Jason’s car, telling him and Piper to keep Nico as long as they could. When they’d get to the beach, Nico would stay as far from the water as he could. Sometimes, when Leo tagged along, the two of them would make small talk while watching Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Frank splashing each other.

Nico remembered the first time he entered the water. It was his sixteenth birthday, and his friends thought a bonfire on the beach was just what he’d need. Bianca had even come, despite making it obvious earlier that she’d wanted to go to the mall with her friend Zoe. They had ended the night by convincing Nico to take a swim.  
Nico didn’t want to; he dreaded even setting a foot in that water, but…He felt he had to, and hey, it was just a small swim. He had to stay in the water for five minutes. What could go wrong?

Something they didn’t take into account was the fact that yes, even in water that was up to Nico’s mid-chest, there were things called currents. And yes, those currents were strong enough to pull even a fairy great swimmer like Nico under.

At first they thought Nico was just joking; that he had decided to dive under the surface as if to say, hey, this isn’t too bad! After a minute of him being under, though, Jason went running. They were all yelling out Nico’s name, panicked and running up and down the beach.

After five frantic moments, Piper let out a yell to the others. Nico was lying on his back in the sand, his lower half still hit by the gentle waves. He was alive and breathing, thankfully.

“Nico? Oh god, Nico!” Bianca had rushed to his side, holding his head up as she tried to wake him. He had stirred, weakly at first, before almost jumping up, staring at the water with wide eyes. “Nico! Are you alright? I’m so sorry, we shouldn’t have-“

“Did you see him?” Nico looked at his sister, then to their friends. They looked confused.

“…Him? See who, Nico?” Nico frowned, moving to sit up and staring at the water.

“He pulled me up onto the shore. He- he had black hair, and his eyes…How did you guys not see him?” Nico’s eyes turned, looking around them. The guy couldn’t have gotten far.. “He was just here! I just saw him, he saved my life!” He scrambled up, turning in his place to try to look around. Bianca and the others were quiet, and they looked to Piper. She held her hands up.

“Hey, I didn’t see anyone else. Maybe it’s just the sea water?” Nico didn’t look like he was too keen on agreeing, but seeing the others nodding like they’d accept that easier than some mysterious savior, he didn’t try to argue back.

“Maybe…Let’s get out of here. I’m soaking wet, it’s starting to get cold, and I don’t want to get sick on my birthday,” Nico muttered, frowning as he looked back towards the surf. The others agreed, heading back to the bonfire to collect their things. Nico lingered, his gaze focusing on something lying in the sand next to where he had been, barely visible in the fading sun. He walked over, leaning down to pick it up. It looked like a necklace, made with a fishing line. There were tiny shells strung on it, almost like something you’d find in some expensive tourist shop, and there was even a fairly large shark tooth on it. Nico paused, frowning at the necklace. None of his friends had anything like this…He glanced around, staring at the water.

“Nico! Hurry up, or we might just end up leaving you!” Looking down at the necklace once more, Nico slid it into his pocket and turned to catch up to the others, taking his rightful passenger seat in Leo’s beat-up, two-person truck. The others climbed into the bed of the truck, chattering amongst themselves as Leo started the truck, starting away from the beach. As Nico watched, he could have sworn he saw someone’s head sticking out of the water, watching after the truck. He shook his head, frowning to himself. The sea water must be doing that to him…

\---

That night, Nico was lying in his bed. He was looking out his window, staring at the ocean. Something was bothering him, and he couldn’t sleep. He held the necklace he had noticed on the beach and stared at the waves. As much as he wouldn’t mind blaming it on the water he might have accidentally swallowed or inhaled… He couldn’t believe that. He had seen someone, he knew it. Someone had saved him in the water, someone with inky black hair and startling green eyes. 

Nico curled his hand around the necklace, ignoring the pain from the shark tooth digging into his skin. He had to find out who had saved him. He’d start at school. The guy had looked around his age, after all…Maybe he was some kid who had seen him in the halls and decided to help him?

Something still bothered him, though. Piper had said she hadn’t seen anyone else on the beach.. He had also been watching the ocean since he had come to his sense. That had to be…what, five minutes? No one could possibly hold their breath that long- well…No one human, at least.

…No way. Nico shook his head, sitting up and setting the necklace on the side table. He was just tired, and thinking crazy…that was it, he knew. He sighed, turning to flick off his lamp and pull his covers over his head, turning away from his window. He’d think more about it in the morning; now, he just needed a rest from his near-death experience earlier. _Hmph_ , he thought sourly, _happy birthday to me._


	2. The Meeting

The next day, Nico slept in until almost noon. Even then, when he finally trudged down to the kitchen, he looked like death. His step mother was sighing to herself, watering a small plant she had gotten from her mother in the mail recently. When she noticed Nico, her face turned sour and she all but stalked down the hall. Nico muttered a ‘Good morning to you, too,’ before he went to look through the fridge. There was still some birthday cake left from the small cake his father had gotten him, but he figured he wouldn’t be able to keep it down. He settled for grabbing a bottle of pomegranate juice, something his dad almost always kept in the fridge despite the knowledge that his second wife wasn’t fond of the fruit at all.

Nico paused by the door long enough to remember his phone and jacket, calling out to his dad that he’d be back later. There wasn’t a response, but it wasn’t like Nico was really looking for one. Minutes later he stepped out into the sunshine and heat of California. There wasn’t a need for his jacket, especially in this insane weather- Nico just felt more comfortable in it. It was the last gift he’d gotten from his real mother before she died.

He angled his head up, squinting at the sun and almost willing it to go away. His steps were slow as he made his way down the street. There were tons of highschoolers out, chattering to each other as they strolled down the streets, either on their way to the local teen club, headed for an early party over at Pollux and Castor’s house, or making their way to the beach that was bound to be crowded.

Crowded it was. There were tons of kids in the water, and Nico could barely count how many. He sighed, shaking his head. Alright…so this had been a terrible idea. He didn’t know why he’d thought it was just be easy to find the guy who saved him when there were so many just parading through the water, either paddling out to hit a few waves or jokingly throwing their girlfriends and best friends into the water. One of his hands went up to the necklace he’d found last night, carefully tied around his neck, and he debated his options.

He could turn right around and go home to listen to music, do homework, and forget entirely about the mysterious savior from the previous night. On the other hand, he could go look for the guy that had left him the necklace and saved his life on top of it. After a few moments, Nico made his decision.

He walked carefully onto the beach, and he probably looked ridiculous. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, his hair falling into his face and his jacket pulled up as much as it could. There was no way he was going swimming, and he proved that as he turned and started for the more rocky terrain, easily climbing over the sharp stones that jutted out from the ground. Once he was decently far enough from the crowd that he could watch, yet not be bothered, he did just that.

Three hours and two limbs falling asleep later, Nico was just about ready to give up. So far, watching…He hadn’t seen anyone like him. There were guys with black hair, but their skin didn’t look like what he had seen before. Theirs was a deep tan, like they spent way too much time out in the sun for it to be healthy. The guy he had seen the night before…it had seemed like his skin was tanned in a way that was accidental, like he didn’t mind it, but he didn’t do it on purpose. Plus, some of these guys didn’t look too good without a shirt on- not that Nico was judging. He huffed, shaking his head and sitting back on the rocks, sliding off his jacket and leaving it on a slab next to him. 

Moments later, he heard something like…a splash? He raised his head just in time to get smacked in the face with some kind of…wet object. It took Nico a moment to realize that the thing blocking his vision was seaweed, and even longer to realize something had just _thrown_ this at him. He pushed the seaweed off his face, staring down at the water. The surface was rippling, showing that there had been something there moments before. He scrambled to sit up, staring at the surface. What the hell…?

Moments later, a head popped out of the water. Nico stared in disbelief as dark brown eyes met green. With a shock, he realized he’d seen those eyes. “H-hey!” He almost slipped into the water, trying to get as close to the surface as he could. The male in the water shrank back a bit, but slowly moved forward. The rest of his head slid out of the water and he gave a small smile to the thin boy. “You’re the guy that saved me yesterday, aren’t you?” Nico got a nod in response. “Then…this is yours too, isn’t it?” Nico reached up, holding up the necklace he was wearing by the shark tooth. The boy look surprised that he wore it, nodding once more. “Do you want it back?” A shake of his head. “…Can you speak?”

The male paused for a moment, almost looking embarrassed. He opened his mouth, revealing a set of pointed, very dangerous looking teeth. Almost immediately his mouth snapped shut and he seemed to realize his mistake. Nico could only stare as old stories from when he was a little kid in Venice came to mind.

_Sirena. Terrible creatures, Nico. They’ll drag you to your deaths at the bottom of the sea should they get ahold of you. They show themselves as beautiful women, but they’re truly the most fearsome beasts in the sea. Be careful should you swim, understand? And if you hear their call, run. Swim. Do not listen for too long or they shall lean you to your death._

Nico wasn’t one to believe in old Italian myths and legends. Of course, this kid had a row of incredibly sharp teeth that looked like they could take a bite out of him if they wished, and he’d come out of nowhere. “Shit.” He start scrambling back on the rocks when a hand shot out of the water and oh god _oh god, it was_ pulling _him into the water!_

Nico barely managed to shout out and take in a breath of air before he was pulled underwater by whoever- or, _what_ ever- this being was.


	3. The Conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaah, I'm really sorry for the late update! I've been super busy with getting grades up and studying for semester finals, but that's over with for now! I'm on break, so I should have another chapter up soon, I hope!! Thank you guys for reading, bookmarking, and giving kudos!! <3

Upon opening his eyes, Nico di Angelo figured he was dead. He stayed where he was, staring at some sort of sky- ceiling?- that seemed to almost glitter and shine. The air around him was warm and almost lulled him back to sleep, but he pushed the feeling away as he struggled to sit up. His limbs felt heavy, and he was exhausted. Wherever he was, it was pretty well-lit, and he could see the same shimmer around him that he did above.

It took Nico a few minutes to remember what had happened- and now that he had, he was almost positive he was dead. He shivered, and noticed that his clothes were damp. He frowned, and then reached up to his neck to feel for the necklace. When his fingers wrapped around the shark tooth, and almost ripped it off his neck.

The only thing that stopped him was the sight of a stirring in the pool of water in front of him. His mind worked quickly to take in the fact that he must not be dead, along with the notion that he was in some kind of underwater cavern. Then a familiar face poked its head out of the water.

“Oh my god. Did you- am I dead?!” His voice was shockingly loud against the silence in the cave. A quick shake of the creature’s head told Nico that he was alive. Well, that was something. “..I’m guessing you can’t talk?” The boy shook his head and opened his mouth, although Nico could swear he only heard something like a series of clicks. Something about it sounded familiar. “You sound like a dolphin.” _That_ got a smile out of him, and Nico could have very well thrown himself into the water.

“You speak dolphin…Right. I’m obviously dreaming right now, or I’m actually dead. I think either of those would be preferable over this.” The male in the water rolled his eyes, showing that at least he understood Nico. He then gestured for him to come close to the water, giving an innocent smile.

“Oh, _hell_ no. Last time I got near the water you almost drowned me. What makes you think I’m going to be so keen to ju-!” Apparently not looking to wait for his consent, a tan arm shot out and pulled him closer to the water by his ankle. “Shit-fuck, don’t you dare-!” Nico was prepared to punch this guy- creature- as hard as he could if it’d come to it. When he didn’t fall into the water, he was pleasantly surprised. When he realized he was face to face with whoever this guy was, he was more surprised than worried.  
When Nico felt a pair of lips that smelled and tasted like the ocean press against his own, he was more confused than anything.

He froze in place, eyes wide and easily meeting the steady gaze of the other. Moments later, he gave a cry of disgust and shoved away, almost falling into the water, and backing up from the edge of the pool.

“W- What the hell was that for?!” He demanded, wiping at his lips with his arm. He sounded disgusted, and his face was starting to take on a pink tint.

“You wanted to talk to me, didn’t you?” Hold on. Nico looked at him, shock on his face. “…Oh, you must be surprised.” Nico nodded, at a loss for words. Hadn’t he just…?

“But- How are you- …What?”

“Oh, right…That usually is what surprises them. Well, it’s kind of hard to explain.” Speaking like he would to someone he knew personally, the male began to hoist himself out of the water and onto the floor of the cavern. Nico was given a fairly good view of his chest and stomach, but his eyes were glued to the area just below those. Starting just under his navel, skin that would look like a regular human’s ended. Instead, a smooth green started, dipping under the water until just the tip of a fin was visible above the water. “This usually distracts them, though.”

Nico wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. Rather, he was more focused on the _tail_ on him. Or was it a fin? Well, fish had tails, didn’t they?

“Oi, are you even paying attention to me? Haha, I guess the tail is working a bit too well. What’s your name? I couldn’t catch it when your friends were yelling at you; I was too busy saving you. You can call me Percy, if you want. Hey, are you okay?” Percy seemed to realize that Nico was still deathly silent, staring at the tail that grew from him. “Hey, I’m _talking_ to you!” He reached out again to yank at Nico’s ankle, which got his attention.

Nico jerked his leg away from Percy’s reach, glaring at him. “Don’t. Touch. Me.” The merman stayed silent, clearly shocked by Nico’s choice of words. It took a few more minutes for the human to regain his thoughts, avoiding eye contact with the other. “…You did save me. You were the one that pulled me out from the ocean- then this is yours.” He reached up, touching the shark tooth on the necklace. He was met with a nod in response.

“Mhmm. You’re welcome, by the way. You were being pretty stupid for going into the water, you know. They have things called currents, and most humans can’t swim in them. I don’t think you can swim at all, actually. In fact-“ Nico cut him off before he could continue.

“My friends wanted me to before I turned sixteen. Of course, I almost died, so happy birthday to me. Why did you save me, anyways? I used to hear- well, I thought mermaids were supposed to want to drown humans and eat them or something like that.” Nico shrugged off the look he got at the word mermaid and instead turned to look at him evenly, waiting for an answer.

“First of all, I’m a mer _man_. Secondly, not all of us are like that. You might want to stay away from some of the more northern ones, though. They’re nasty about humans. The southern ones don’t mind you all nearly as much. And thirdly…you looked scared.”

“Of what?”

“Dying. Drowning. You looked terrified, and I was passing by looking for dinner. I figured helping one human wouldn’t be too bad…Besides, your eyes are kind of cute.” Nico’s face flushed red as the merman laughed, finding this absolutely hilarious. “I’m kidding! Humans can’t take jokes lightly, can they?”

“N-not when it’s about something l-like..like _THAT_!” Nico scooted even further from the merman, crossing his arms and glaring at him. He looked pretty pissed now, and the red was most likely from anger rather than embarrassment at this point.

“Well, uh, sorry, dude? I didn’t mean any harm. Hey, c’mon. I need to get you back to the surface; it’s almost dark. That’s when all the big bad guys come out.” For some reason, with the full-out finger waggle with his last few words, Nico didn’t believe Percy. 

“After what you pulled earlier? Haha, not happening. The idea was so funny, I almost forgot to laugh,” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Right, but you did laugh! So hurry up, and hold on tight!” Percy held another hand out to Nico, motioning him closer.

“I said no! I’m not going anywhere with you again. You almost killed me last time, so I’m not too excited to be going on any mystical under-sea adventures with you any time soon.”

“Soon isn’t never!”

“Leave me alone!” Percy slid back into the pool to avoid a still-damp shoe, poking his head out to give a toothy grin.

“Alright, fine. I’ll come back in a few hours, let you blow off some steam. Make yourself at home.” Without waiting for any sort of reply from Nico, the merman disappeared under the surface once more, the slap of a tail fin his official farewell. Nico grumbled something about being glad he was finally gone before pulling his jacket around him tightly, looking around and wondering how he was going to get back to the surface.

“Heh, some situation I got myself in now. Just great, di Angelo. Juuuust great.”


	4. The Explanation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm /really/ sorry for not getting this out sooner! My computer crashed while I was working on the chapter, and it's not looking too good now. I have to write from my dad's computer, so I can't really have a definite time for updates now, I'm sorry!

It was hard telling time. Nico couldn't be sure of how long passed, but he had dozed off after making sure the merman wasn't coming back for quite some time. When he awoke once more, the cavern he was in was nearly pitch-black, and he could smell something like fish. He sat up groggily, rubbing his head and glancing around. He strained his eyes in the darkness, barely able to make out the pool of water that was so close. He began inching towards it, having a faint idea of swimming out of there on his own. Before his foot could even touch the surface of the water, a hand seized his upper arm. He held back a scream, his eyes widening as he attempted to pull himself from the hand.

"Hey. I wouldn't suggest going in there. I told you, the bad guys come out at night." The voice was familiar, and when Nico turned back he saw a pair of nearly glowing green eyes staring at him. He shivered and yanked his arm away, scooting away from the water's surface.

"What kind of bad guys?" Nico asked, his face scrunching up despite knowing that the other couldn't see it. A laugh disproved that, and he heard Percy shifting around, turning to face him better.

"Sharks. Some of the more aggressive mermen and mermaids. You're lucky I found you the other night and not one of them." The tone of his voice was almost like pride, as if he were so happy that he had saved him. Nico rolled his eyes once more, shaking his head. "Yeah, sure. Because being stuck in some cavern with someone who kidnapped me is so desirable." His tone must have been colder than he intended, because he could hear Percy shifting back, almost hear the uneasy smile in his voice.

"I wanted to talk to you. You looked like you wanted to talk to me too, with how you were looking at some of those guys on the beach!" Nico felt his face flushing and he glared in the direction he believed Percy's head was.

"Shut up! I didn't- I wasn't.....Ugh, how can you even talk, anyways? Couldn't you only click at me earlier?" Nico questioned, raising an eyebrow. Percy was silent for a few minutes, as if he were debating his reply. The silence seemed to stretch on, amplified by the darkness of the cavern.

"....Well, I was waiting for this one." Nico's eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness, and he could see the faint outline of Percy moving to lie on his stomach. "Get comfortable, because this might take some time to explain." Nico did as he suggested, moving his jacket to rest his elbows on it to get more comfortable. "Alright. Well...It's kind of a..fishfolk thing." As if sensing the question he was about to ask, Percy continued after a brief moment. "Fishfolk. Like...Mermaids, Mermen. Those kinds of people. Anyways...Our native language is..dolphin. Yeah, laugh all you want, but they're the creatures who seem to want to interact with us the most. They're the most welcoming. It only makes sense. But, when we're younger, we're taught that we can learn other's languages. The catch for that was that we had to have, er...lip contact with them."

"Like kissing?" Nico asked bluntly, his face heating up once more with the thought of the earlier interaction. Percy laughed and nodded. "Like kissing. It's weird, but...it works. Obviously. So, uh...sorry about that. I tried asking you first, but..yeah, you guys can't understand dolphin." Regardless of the situation, Nico felt a smile creep up on his face. That was funny. Almost as soon as it appeared, he forced it to disappear. He could almost sense Percy smiling and knew the merman had caught him.

"Anyways, that's why I kissed you. And..this is where I hang out when I'm in the area. It's pretty easily concealed, so I don't think the bad guys can find it so easily. I'm the only one that knows about it." He sounded proud once more, and Nico nodded along. "Now..I have a question for you. Why were you in the water?"

Nico grew silent, and for a few minutes he contemplated answering. He didn't really owe anything to this guy, but..after a couple more minutes, he spoke. "My friends always insisted I go swimming. I'm not really a fan of the water, you know. I prefer to just let it be where it is, and I'm good with that. I respect it. I know how to swim; I grew up in Italy, of course I know how to swim. I guess I was just nervous. I mean, I'm sixteen and until that moment I hadn't been in the ocean once. My grandfather...he had always told me of scary creatures that patrolled the ocean's depths, waiting to call out to a foolish man and take him for their dinner. Sirens, I think he called them." He risked a glance to Percy, who nodded as if he knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, well..I think I might've seen one of them when I was younger, I'm not sure. He..he was this kid I knew. I wasn't supposed to sneak out, but, uh..I decided to. We were going to hang out, maybe. I thought so, at least. But when I got to where he wanted to meet, I didn't see him. And then I heard the singing." He frowned, voice trailing off. There was a shifting movement and he felt a hesitant hand touch his shoulder.

"..You don't need to tell me. It's getting late, I suggest that you get some more sleep. We can talk more in the morning, when the cavern's lit." At first, the glowing green eyes seemed to be wary, afraid that Nico was going to freak out once more. After a moment, though, Nico nodded. "...Yeah, uh. That'd be good." There was silence as they both got comfortable, and Percy's hand slipped off Nico's shoulder after a few seconds.

"..G'night, Percy," Nico murmured, his voice barely audible. He heard a soft sigh and the merman seemed to relax. A soft 'sleep well...' was heard before a snore took over, signaling that the merman had already fallen asleep. Nico almost laughed, adjusting himself to look at Percy as he closed his eyes, telling himself it was just so he could make sure the merman didn't attack him in his sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

The next time Nico woke, it was because of a pair of hands eagerly shaking his shoulders. He groaned, pushing the hands away as he began to sit up. Even now, he remembered the previous day’s events. So, he had spent all night here…Persephone was gonna kill him. Brushing away the thought of his step-mother screaming at him later, he opened his eyes to focus on the unusual pair of green ones in front of him. Nico flinched, not used to anything being that close to him.

"Hey, back up! Give me some space." The merman- _Percy_ , Nico reminded himself- obeyed, his mouth twisting into a toothy grin that still made Nico feel sick to look at.

"You’re finally awake!"

Percy turned, hands working to grab something behind him. He turned and held it out to Nico eagerly. The merman was holding a dead fish. Nico almost gagged at the sight alone, if not for the fact that it _wriggled_. It was still alive. He looked up to Percy and saw he was still wearing the eager grin. Well, it didn’t seem like he had much of a way out of this.

At first, Nico tried to fake taking a bite out of the fish. The slightly confused look on Percy’s face told him that he had struck out. This guy was more perceptive than he thought. He sighed to himself and pulled the fish closer to his mouth, taking a big bite. Now, Percy looked pretty proud of himself. Nico, on the other hand, nearly gagged. He did his best to chew and swallow, not wanting whatever rocky friendship they had at the moment break because he refused a fish.

_This is like that movie. How to Train Your…something._ Nico thought to himself, setting the fish down. Percy waited a moment before grabbing the fish back, eagerly taking bites of the fish and swallowing without chewing. _..Dragon. How to Train Your Dragon. I think training a merman would be a lot more impressive._ He chuckled to himself, drawing a curious glance from the still-eating merman.

“Oh, uh- nothing. I was just, uh, remembering a joke,” he lied lamely, and that seemed enough for the other. Nico shifted where he was sitting, looking around the cavern. It was obvious the sun had begun to rise, the light reflecting from wherever it was coming from into a stunning array of bright oranges and yellows. He squinted a bit, trying to pinpoint where the light was coming from. If he could figure that out…

“Hey, what are you looking at?” Percy’s voice was loud in the silence of the cave, and Nico barely held himself from glaring at him.

“I was looking to see if there was a way out,” Nico responded, turning away from the Merman. He heard the sliding of the tail on the ground and looked back. He was face-to-face with him, bringing out a blush and the instant urge to back as far away from him as he could. The impish grin that crossed Percy’s face gave Nico the feeling that he wasn’t out of deep water yet. Literally.

“Well, there’s probably some hole waaay up in the top of the cavern, but other than that…Nothing! Not that I can see, at least. I have good eyes.” Percy sounded like he was trying to show off, for whatever reason that was. Nico nodded, grimacing and scooting over towards the hole in the floor, where the water was lazily lapping at the edges. When he looked back at the merman, he noticed that he seemed almost disappointed.

“Oh. You’re ready to go already?” Nico’s impatient nod was enough to go on. “Oh. Alright…I just hoped that we could talk a little bit more.” The still-impatient look from him didn’t seem to budge. The merman sighed. “Fine.” He pulled himself back to the water, splashing loudly and covering Nico in a wave of water. He surfaced seconds after, frowning at him. “Take a breath, hurry up.” Nico realized he must have made the merman mad, and carefully slipped into the water behind him. He took a deep breath, and nodded.

Then Percy plunged down into the water.

On instinct, Nico shut his eyes and kept them shut. After a few seconds, he inched them open. The saltwater burned for a few seconds, but it wasn’t that bad. Nico had been used to it when he was a child, and as long as he just squinted now it wasn’t as bad. Percy was moving pretty fast, gliding through the water and avoiding rocks that stuck out at random intervals. Nico kept his arms tight around Percy’s shoulders and neck, and the merman didn’t make a move to adjust him. Hopefully it wasn’t hurting him.

As they passed by different coves and began angling upwards, Nico caught sight of other creatures. Long fish, schools of them, scattering as Percy swam through made up a lot of their swim. A brief glance of the tip of what looked to be a shark tail, and a flash of color as some aquatic animal moved to avoid being seen. Even after that, Nico could catch sights of other merfolk swimming. A flash of a red tail here, a blue tail there. Some were small, others were bigger. He could tell there were males and females, distinct in their…more obvious chests. If Nico hadn’t been aware that he needed to hold his breath or he’d drown, he would have been breathless by the displays.

Just as Nico was nearing the end of the oxygen he had inhaled below, he realized the waters were getting brighter. With a soft splash, they surfaced. Nico breathed quickly, hunching over a bit to regain his breath. He heard Percy laugh and adjusted himself on his back to glare at him.

“What are you laughing about?” He asked, shakily letting go of his neck to swim over to the rocks hiding them from view. It looked like the merman had returned him to where they had met the previous day.

“You! Humans can’t hold their breath that long, can they? It’s almost sad.” He didn’t sound like he was trying to insult him, more like he was just stating a fact that should have been obvious. Nico snorted, frowning and beginning to pull himself up onto the rocks.

“Yeah, sure. We all don’t have gills, you know.” Percy laughed even quieter, slowly gliding through the water over to Nico. The human backed up instinctively, frowning down at him. “I’m not getting near you again, got it? Thanks for saving me, but this is too much. For all I know, I’m just going crazy.”

“Right, of course. Take as much time as you need to come back. I’ll be waiting.” Well, he seemed pretty sure that Nico would come back. Ignoring Percy, he stood up and began walking back towards his house. A day had passed, and Bianca was probably going to _kill_ him when he got back. Unconsciously, Nico reached up and touched the sharktooth on the necklace he was still wearing, and a small smile slid onto his face.

_Percy was probably right_ , Nico thought. _I will be back_.


	6. The Second Meeting

And he was back. Nico had a bad habit of not being able to help himself from keeping away from things that were probably bad ideas.

First, the thing with Jason.

Then, the incident with the captain of the archery team.

Now, he was intrigued by some creature that probably shouldn’t even exist. If he told Bianca, she’d think something was wrong with him. If he told his stepmother, she’d be more than happy to send him on his way to a hospital.

That’s why Nico kept his secret to himself. It would be fairly easy not to tell; it would be a bit harder to slip away from his friends on a semi-regular basis. He hadn’t been able to go see Percy for nearly a week after the night in the cave. When he got back home, Bianca answered the door and looked like she was about to slam it in his face. Then, she’d started crying, pulling him inside. His parents had been less receptive, scolding him for merely not calling.

Bianca hadn’t let him out of her sight out of school for a week. The following Saturday, though, Zoe had convinced her that Nico wasn’t going to run off again and that they could go see a movie without him.

Naturally, Nico ran off as soon as Bianca’s car was out of sight. He went to the beach, this time dressed a little more appropriately. He still wore his aviator jacket, but he had opted for a lighter colored shirt and jeans. He wasn’t planning on going for a swim, but he wouldn’t mind hanging out and talking for a couple hours.

The beach was just as busy as the weekend before, but no one went near the small outcrop of rocks where Nico found the merman the previous time. He sat there for a few minutes, staring at the flat water. Maybe this was a bad idea. There was a chance the merman wouldn’t be waiting for him, and that he’d be here all day.

Fortunately, someone else was there.

“Nico! What are you doing here?” The boy jumped, hands flying up as he almost fell into the water. He turned quickly, almost falling into the water and staring behind him. Leo and Jason were perched at the top of the cropping of rocks, looking at Nico like he had two heads.

“…What are you guys doing here? Don’t you have, uh, some sort of party for the football team?” Nico sat up more, looking vaguely uncomfortable. Jason didn’t seem to notice, and ran to sit down beside him on the rocks.

“Nah, there’s one later. But we just came out to go see Piper surf. She hasn’t been able to come out for a while, so she’s glad for the opportunity. The real question is why you’re here. When did Bianca let you out of her sight?” Leo came down to sit by Jason, grinning easily.

“Simple! He totally sneaked out to meet some smoking hot chick he’s secretly been seeing. I told you he was a hit with the ladies,” Leo said, rather loudly, causing Jason to laugh and Nico to flush in embarrassment. 

“Shut up! I just- Uh, wanted to see the ocean. I figured that, um…I shouldn’t let what happened on my birthday get the better of me. Plus, Bianca went to go see a movie with her girlfriend. My parents aren’t exactly the prime example of how you should look after your children. I just walked out of the house.” Nico’s tone wasn’t too happy, and it was almost obvious that he wasn’t appreciating the company. Still, the two stayed there. When Nico glanced at the main beach and over the water, he didn’t see any surfers or waves. “…I’m guessing this isn’t about Piper surfing.”

“Nope. Bianca told us to keep an eye on you. Sorry, dude, but she doesn’t want you disappearing wherever you went again. You scared her more than you think.” Jason tried sounding sympathetic, patting his shoulder. Nico shrugged, sighing and looking back to the water in front of them.

“Whatever. I guess I can deal with hanging around you two for a bit…” He trailed off, his eyes widening as a head popped out of the water. A familiar wet mop of black hair was covered in seaweed, and when sea green eyes found his, dread built in his chest. This was bad. Jason and Leo both were surprised, jumping back and letting out matching exclaims. 

"Nico! I was wondering wh...hey, who are these?" Percy's eyes narrowed the slightest as he turned to look at Jason and Leo with guarded suspicion. "Were they bothering you, Nico?"

For a moment, Jason just looked confused. Then he looked irritated, leaning down to meet Percy's gaze.

"Hey, I don't know who you think you are, but we’re his friends. We could ask you the same thing, you know. I’ve never seen you around here before; how do you know Nico?” This was getting bad fast. Nico intervened before Percy could speak, almost pushing Jason back as he stood unsteadily on the rocks.

“Hey! It’s fine, guys. Percy- this is Jason and Leo. I know them from school. Jason, Leo- this is Percy. I…met him here after I found his necklace.” Shooting looks to all three of the guys, he wasn’t satisfied until Percy had looked away, still frowning at the water, and Jason and Leo had turned to him.

“Well, he seems like quite the person! We’ll tell Bianca you were just meeting with a friend, no harm done. See you on Monday, dude!” Leo pulled Jason with him away from Nico and Percy despite the blond’s vocal objections. After they were well away from them, Nico turned to the water and frowned at Percy, crossing his arms. Percy glanced up at him, pouting and rising out of the water more.

“Hey! You look like you’re going to blame me for that. I had nothing to do with it. I was just…You didn’t look like you wanted them here.” The merman’s expression turned more embarrassed, drifting closer to the edge of the rocks and bracing his hands against them. He didn’t make a move to come out of the water, though, just watching Nico.

“I was worried because you showed up right after them. I didn’t want them to find out…you know.” Nico moved to sit, his arms still crossed as he regarded Percy carefully. He was sitting a few feet away from him, just in case the merman tried to pull him into the water again. Percy looked surprised, then grinned, showing off his wickedly sharp teeth.

“Oh! Well, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m a lot more careful about that sort of stuff. I usually don’t even talk to humans, either.” He perked up, suddenly looking like he’d realized something. “Oh yeah! I wanted to show you something; come here. It’s in a little cove not that far from here. I can swim the both of us there. You won’t even be out that long!” He sounded eager, eyes bright and his hand popping out to offer to Nico. Nico regarded him for another moment, glancing back to see if Leo or Jason was in sight. Neither of them was, and Nico was sure he’d heard a car leave just after they’d walked away.

He turned back to Percy, pausing only to slide off his aviator jacket and stuff it in a crevasse in the rocks. He carefully took off his shoes and did the same, taking Percy’s hand carefully. The merman was more careful this time, helping Nico wrap his arms around his neck before turning, grinning back at Nico.

“Alright, hold your breath. I need to get as far away from this part of the beach so no one sees, okay?” Nico nodded carefully, his arms tightening as he took a deep breath. With that, Percy sank below the water and started swimming along the coast.


End file.
